Crime & Safety
Richland County At-Risk Youth Program Featured on A&E TV Show
An episode of "Beyond Scared Straight" will show how the program aims to keep at-risk youth out of trouble.
Grueling physical challenges. Deputies screaming orders. Food from a paper bag. A hard bench for a bed inside four cinder-block walls.
That's the life Richland County teens experienced during their overnight stay in a prison cell as part of the sheriff's department's R.E.A.D.Y Program.
The program, which stands for Richland County Educating and Deterring Youth, will be featured in an episode of A&E's "Beyond Scared Straight" at 10 p.m. on Dec. 8. The show profiles jail-deterrence programs aimed at keeping teens across the nation out of prison.
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Richland County parents of youth with behavioral problems can enter their teens into the R.E.A.D.Y Program in hopes of giving them a "reality check." Students between ages 12 and 16 can stay overnight in a jail cell at the Richland County Courthouse.
At the end of their stay, officers from the Richland County Sheriff's Department Gang Unit talk to the youth about how to avoid a real trip to jail.
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Parents have to pay a $10 administrative fee to cover the cost of a jumper, a snack and breakfast.
For more information about the program call Investigator Gerald Walls at 803-518-4127.
For more information about the show "Beyond Scared Straight," visit the A&E website.
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